


Stars, Daisies, and Snowflakes

by brightlikeloulou



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Zombie Apocalypse, Alternate Universe - Tattoo Parlor, First Meetings, M/M, Tattoo Artist!Jesus, Tattooed!Jesus, Tattoos, the grimes kids are daryl's godkids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-01
Updated: 2018-12-01
Packaged: 2019-09-04 23:57:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16799620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brightlikeloulou/pseuds/brightlikeloulou
Summary: When Daryl went to a tattoo parlor to get a tattoo in tribute to his newest godchild, he ended up getting a crush on the hot tattoo artist that did it for him.





	Stars, Daisies, and Snowflakes

**Author's Note:**

> Just some fun! Thanks for reading! X

_It was freezing as Daryl jumped out of his pickup truck, he slammed the door closed behind him after grabbing the little gift bag from the passenger seat. He locked the car, and his teeth chattered as he began to hurry towards the front door of the hospital, ready to make his way to the maternity ward._

_He hated hospitals, all the depressed people, all the smells of chemicals, nurses with their sympathetic smiles and too cheery personalities._

_He checked his phone once again as he had forgotten the room number Rick had texted him an hour ago._

_He and Rick had been out having dinner together last night at a bar they were regulars at when Michonne had called Rick to tell him that she had gone into_ labour _. Rick had had a panic attack against the wall for five minutes before Daryl had all but thrown the man over his shoulder and carried him to the car. He snapped it into Rick that the man had already had to two kids, and that he could have one more._

_He had driven Rick back to his and Michonne's house. She had told Rick over the phone that her contractions were still far apart enough that she could wait for Rick to get home before going to the hospital._

_When they arrived at their house, they both hurried inside. They found Michonne laying on one of the couches in the living area, and when asked where the kids were, she told them that Carl and Judith were upstairs getting themselves ready to go and spend the night at Michonne's mother's house._

_Daryl told the two of them to get to the hospital and that he could drop the two kids off, providing that Carl could give him directions. Daryl was told that Carl could and just as Rick was helping Michonne stand up from the couch, Carl and Judith hurried down the stairs, both with bags in hand._

_"Have you two got everything you need? I'm droppin' you off at Juliane's." Daryl said to the two of them, lifting up four-year-old Judith onto his hip as she had been tugging at his pants._

_Both kids nodded and Carl, who was now fifteen, kissed Michonne's cheek before grabbing both his and Judith's bags._

_"Good luck, mom," He wished her and then left the room to take the bags to the car._

_Daryl held Judith out so she could do the same, her kiss much sloppier than Carl's had been._

_Daryl left with Carl and Judith, while Michonne and Rick got themselves sorted before they left for the hospital._

_Now, Daryl walked down a seemingly endless hallway, checking room numbers as he passed them. He eventually found the one he was looking for and approached it, he gripped the bag tightly in one hand and quietly knocked on the hospital room's door with the other._

_The door opened a second later, and a beaming Rick greeted him._

_"Hey, brother," The younger man greeted and pulled Daryl into a hug._

_"Hey," Daryl replied, and he smiled at Michonne over Rick's shoulder. Rick let him go after a few moments, but he grabbed Daryl's hand tightly and led him over to the bed so he could greet Michonne while Rick got the baby out of the little plastic crib. "Proud of you," Daryl murmured and kissed her forehead._

_She smiled wide. "You should be, me and Rick apparently make big babies. He was not fun to push out,"_

_All three of them chuckled, and Daryl then sat down in the uncomfortable plastic chair as Rick approached him with the baby. "We really do, Rick Jr here is ten pounds,"_

_Daryl quirked a brow at him as the newborn was transferred into his arms. Daryl's lips curved into a smile as he looked down at Rick Jr, he had skin lighter than Michonne's and tufts of curls on top of his head. He was awake and blinking around with big brown eyes. Daryl leaned down and pressed a kiss to his head._

_"Look in the bag," He said after several moments and motioned to the little yellow and green bag he had sat on the bed._

_Michonne reached for it, and Rick sat down on the bed by her. She stuck her hand in into the bag and then grinned wide when she pulled out a tiny onesie with cartoon prints of woodland creatures on it, and then a_ little stuffed _rabbit._

_"Aw, these are so sweet, Daryl, thank you," Michonne said, and Rick leaned over to throw an arm over his shoulder and knock his forehead against his temple affectionately._

* * *

Daryl held his coat tighter around him as he walked along the street towards the tattoo palor. It was smack-dab in the middle of winter and Daryl hated winter with a passion, he liked being able to feel the sun on his skin.

The tattoo place that Daryl had got his previous tats at had closed down a couple of months ago due to the owners moving away, so when the time came for him to get a new tattoo, he had to do some searching. He found a place just half an hour from his apartment, he researched _Espinosa's_ online before he made an appointment, and he was pleased with all the reviews it had.

After walking for a few minutes, he could see the shop's sign a few yards in front of him, and he sped up a little, very much hoping that the shop was heated.

He pushed the door open when he reached it, and a little bell above him dinged. To his relief, warmth immediately rushed over him, and he pulled his hands out of his pockets as he approached the desk.

He rung the little bell that sat on top of the desk and looked around while he waited for someone to show up. There wasn't anyone in the waiting area, but Daryl could hear chatter coming from the rooms at the back of the store where people were getting tattooed.

The shop was all exposed brick and red walls with leather couches. The walls were covered in photos of tattoos, sketches, and prints.

He didn't need to look at any of them, he had a photo on his phone of what he wanted.

After a few moments, a woman walked out from one of the back room. She wore blue jeans and a white tank top, and her long brown hair was pulled into a tight pony-tail, and the name tag stuck to her shirt read _Rosita_.

"Sorry about that," She said as she stepped behind the desk.

"No worries," Daryl replied and tried his best to give her a small smile.

"Name?"

"Daryl Dixon,"

She tapped away at the computer's keyboard a couple of times and clicked with the mouse and then looked up at him with a smile. "Okay, Jesus is just cleaning up after his last client, he'll be out in a minute,"

He furrowed his brow a little at 'Jesus' but nodded his thanks to her and made his way over to one of the leather armchairs and sat himself down. He pulled out his phone and began to tap away at the game he was currently addicted to as he waited for his tattoo artist to come and collect him.

He heard footsteps after a minute or so and looked up to find a guy approaching him. Daryl's lips parted slightly and _oh fuck, so hot, sexy, fuck_ constantly ran in a loop through his mind. The guy was possibly one of the most gorgeous men Daryl had ever seen, and he wasn't entirely sure how to function just yet. He was average height, with his muscular arms covered in tattoos and Daryl was pretty sure he could see one on his neck. He wondered how much of his body was covered in ink under his ripped black jeans and plain black t-shirt. He had a thick beard that Daryl wanted to have leave beard burn all over him, and he had a long head of hair pulled back into a messy bun and Daryl wanted to know what it would feel like between his fingers. Daryl could get where 'Jesus' came from, especially if his hair was down. And sure enough, his name tag did read Jesus.

"Daryl Dixon?"

"Yeah," Daryl replied, and he swallowed thickly as he stood up.

"Alright, follow me," Jesus said with a sweet smile and then spun on his heels and began walking to one of the back rooms.

Jesus pulled the curtains to the room closed once they were both inside. Daryl took a seat on the recliner chair and pulled his phone from his pocket.

Jesus sat down on the stool beside the recliner chair and folded his tattooed hands in his lap, he smiled wide. "So, Daryl, we're doing a simple wrist tattoo today?"

Daryl nodded and tapped at his phone for a few seconds until he got the picture he needed up, he handed the phone to Jesus who took it.

"Just somethin' similar to this, don't have to be exact, and an R beside it," Daryl told him as the man looked at the photo.

Paul nodded, and then handed the phone back to him. "I can do that, now are we just doing the one snowflake?"

"Uh, three, and scattered if you can."

"Sure," Paul said, "Can you show me where about on your wrist?"

"Oh yeah, hold on a sec," Daryl grunted and quickly pulled coat off and then rolled up the sleeve of his sweater. He turned his arm so that his inner wrist faced upwards, "Just below these ones," He said and pointed to the spot on his arm, realising it was actually more of an inner forearm tattoo than a wrist tattoo.

"Okay," Paul said with a sweet smile and carefully reached for Daryl's wrist and placed it on the little table to hold it up, Daryl flushed red at the feel of the man's hands on him. "So, you want the R on the left and then the three snowflakes on the right, and the R in capital?" He asked for clarification.

"Yeah, that's right, and in similar colors to the photo if you could, please,"

"No problem," Jesus replied and patted his hand.

Ten minutes later, Jesus was working away on Daryl's tattoo.

The bite of the tattoo gun didn't bother Daryl, he had been through pain much worse. The gun's needle was more of an annoying pain than anything that actually bothered him.

"So," Jesus said, "I'm sensing a bit of a theme with these tattoos here, tributes to your kids?"

Daryl smiled, _maybe on the other wrist one day,_ floated through the back of his mind. "God kids, my brother's two sons and his daughter,"

"Aw, that's sweet,"

"He ain't a blood brother, but he may as well be," Daryl said and looked over from where he had been playing the game on his phone to check Jesus' progress.

"I've got the same situation. Maggie, she may as well be my sister," Paul told him and glanced up at him for just a second to give him a smile.

"I think the whole 'can't choose family,' is bullshit," Daryl grunted, he remembered that Merle that used to scream that at him whenever Daryl wanted to leave back when he was younger.

"Oh definitely," Paul replied, "So, you want to tell me about these God kids and what the tattoos mean?"

Daryl smiled because yes, he would absolutely love to talk about his favorite little people. "So, Carl's the oldest, he's fifteen. He's really into astronomy, wants to get a degree in it when he goes to college. That's why he's got stars and a moon." Daryl began to explain.

"Oo that's cool. I used to be into all that stuff when I was a bit younger, but I didn't have proper access to books and what not to actually be able to learn a lot about it," Jesus answered, and Daryl was surprised at how much he was enjoying the conversation. Back when he got his other tattoos, he hated how the woman that did them would try and chat throughout the process.

_It's probably because he's gorgeous._

"Then Judith is in the middle, she just turned four. She's got the daisy and the ladybug because she loves nature and being outside, unlike Carl, he's an indoor cat,"

Paul chuckled, "I relate to Judith, I spend as much time as I can outside as I can. Got a house out near the woods, I love it out there,"

Daryl hummed, "I love the outdoors too, live in an apartment though, makes it a little harder because my ideal outdoors isn't outside on the town, like being in actual nature and all that shit,"

Paul huffed a laugh, "Me too," He said, and Daryl caught the curl of his lips. "So, tell me about the tattoo I'm doing now,"

"So the youngest one, Rick Jr. He was born last week, and it's the middle of winter, and it was snowing the night he was born, so snowflakes," Daryl answered, it had been a few days since he had seen the littlest Grimes, and he was already craving to see him again.

"A little newbie, that's sweet. Maggie and her husband had their son and my godson two months ago, and I'm slowly becoming less terrified of him. He's pretty cute,"

Daryl laughed softly "I was scared too when Judy was first born, I hadn't held a baby before her. Carl was seven when I became friends with Rick, so I never had that with him,"

"I hadn't held a baby before Hershel Jr either," Paul said, "I was terrified when I went to the hospital, it took two hours for them to convince me to hold him,"

Daryl laughed, and Paul looked up at him and smiled sweetly. Daryl felt his stomach flutter with butterflies.

* * *

Three days later, Daryl was laying in his bed after taking a shower, and staring at the new tattoo that he had finally been able to take the patch off. 'R' in black was in and then three scattered snowflakes on the right of it, the snowflakes were a soft blue color, and had little specs of white. Daryl loved it, and Jesus had done a fantastic job.

He stared at the tattoo for a few more minutes before turning off his lamp and settling on his back. His mind begun to swirl with ideas of another tattoo he could get so he could go back to the palor and see Jesus again. By the time their session was done three days ago, Daryl had developed himself a nice crush on the heavily tattooed man.

He had come to a decision by the time he fell asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Do ya'll want more of this?


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